Trying to Conceive Your Odds of Getting Pregnant If You Have Sex After Ovulation By Rachel Gurevich, RN Rachel Gurevich, RN Facebook LinkedIn Twitter Rachel Gurevich is a fertility advocate, author, and recipient of The Hope Award for Achievement, from Resolve: The National Infertility Association. She is a professional member of the Association of Health Care Journalists and has been writing about women’s health since 2001. Rachel uses her own experiences with infertility to write compassionate, practical, and supportive articles. Learn about our editorial process Updated on November 03, 2021 Medically reviewed Verywell Family articles are reviewed by board-certified physicians and family healthcare professionals. Medical Reviewers confirm the content is thorough and accurate, reflecting the latest evidence-based research. Content is reviewed before publication and upon substantial updates. Learn more. by Andrea Chisholm, MD Medically reviewed by Andrea Chisholm, MD Facebook LinkedIn Twitter Andrea Chisolm, MD, is a board-certified OB/GYN who has taught at both Tufts University School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School. She has over 20 years of clinical experience and is currently is in practice at Cody Regional Health in Cody, Wyoming. Learn about our Medical Review Board Print Verywell / Photo Illustration by Julie Bang / Getty Images Table of Contents View All Table of Contents Conceiving From Sex After Ovulation Timing of Post-Ovulation Conception Why Have Sex After Ovulation? Ovulation Day Errors Your chance of getting pregnant after ovulation is small. One day past ovulation, your odds are between 0% and 11%. But don’t let that stop you from having sex! You may be mistaken about your exact day of ovulation. Plus, sex after fertilization may boost your odds of pregnancy. Conceiving From Sex After Ovulation Ideally, if you want to get pregnant, you need to have sex before you ovulate. If you were confused about this before—and thought sex needs to come after ovulation—you’re not alone. Many people don’t realize that the best time to have sex to get pregnant is before, not after, ovulation. However, let’s say you think you’ve already ovulated… is there any point in having sex, just in case? Yes. There have been several research studies on the odds of conception at various stages of the menstrual cycle. Everyone agrees that your best odds of conception are the day before and the day of ovulation. But not everyone agrees on how likely you are to conceive once ovulation has passed. Based on a number of studies, your odds of getting pregnant from having intercourse once may be anywhere in these ranges:21%–35% one day before ovulation10%–33% on ovulation day0%–11% one day past ovulation0%–9% two days past ovulation These numbers assume that you have sex just once during your fertile window. If you have sex before you ovulate and the day after, your odds will be significantly different (better!) than if you have sex only after you ovulated. How Often Do You Need to Have Sex to Conceive? How Long After Ovulation Can You Conceive? This depends on how you define "conceive." Fertilization of the ovulated egg must take place within 12 to 24 hours. After that, the egg is no longer viable. But fertilization of the egg doesn't mean you're pregnant. As anyone who has gone through in vitro fertilization (IVF) can tell you, having an embryo (which is a fertilized egg) doesn't guarantee a pregnancy. You're not pregnant until the embryo implants itself into the uterine lining. Embryo implantation takes place between 5 and 10 days after ovulation. It usually takes another several days before you will get a positive result on a pregnancy test. Why Have Sex After Ovulation? There’s another reason to have sex even if you’ve already ovulated: It may improve your odds of implantation. A small but interesting study looked at the effect sexual intercourse has on pregnancy success and IVF. In this study, one group of couples had sexual intercourse around the time of embryo transfer. The other group abstained from sex. The initial pregnancy rates between the groups were not that different. However, the number of people who were still pregnant at 6 to 8 weeks was significant. Of the group that had sex around the time of embryo transfer, 11.01% were still pregnant at 6 to 8 weeks. As for those who did not have sex around embryo transfer, only 7.69% were still pregnant at 6 to 8 weeks. The theory is that semen may play a role in embryo health and development. Ovulation Day Errors Keep in mind that ovulation day errors can occur. You may be wrong about when you ovulated. Most methods of ovulation prediction aren’t extremely accurate. So, even though you think you already ovulated, you may be wrong. There are many ways to detect your most fertile time, including: Body basal temperature charting Tracking cervical mucus changes (the best one to use, per the research!) Using an ovulation predictor test Body basal temperature (BBT) charting is often considered to be the most accurate, but it’s not error-free. According to one study, BBT charting predicted the day of ovulation correctly only 43% of the time. If you were trying to pinpoint ovulation day by measuring urinary levels of the hormone LH (like you do with an ovulation predictor test), you’d only determine the exact day 60% of the time. 8 Signs of Ovulation That Help Detect Your Most Fertile Time A Word From Verywell When you're trying to get pregnant, it can be tempting to worry about whether you're having sex "at the right time." While there are particular days when you're more likely to conceive, sex shouldn't only be about baby-making. That said, if your only chance to have sex happens to fall after ovulation, it's natural to wonder if it "counts." Whether you think you’ve already ovulated or not, have sex. You may have miscalculated and think you ovulated already when you haven't... or, even if you already ovulated, it's possible sex after ovulation could help along an embryo. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Get diet and wellness tips to help your kids stay healthy and happy. Sign Up You're in! Thank you, {{form.email}}, for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. What are your concerns? Other Inaccurate Hard to Understand Submit 3 Sources Verywell Family uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Colombo B, Masarotto G. Daily fecundability: First results from a new data base. Demogr Res. 2000;3(5). doi:10.4054/DemRes.2000.3.5 Wilcox AJ, Weinberg CR, Baird DD. Timing of sexual intercourse in relation to ovulation — Effects on the probability of conception, survival of the pregnancy, and sex of the baby. N Engl J Med. 1995;333(23):1517-1521. doi:10.1056/NEJM199512073332301 Tremellen KP, Valbuena D, Landeras J, et al. The effect of intercourse on pregnancy rates during assisted human reproduction. Hum Reprod. 2000;15(12):2653-2658. doi:10.1093/humrep/15.12.2653